False Friends
by marvxl
Summary: Merlin is practicing an appearance changing spell in the forest one day when he stumbles across a certain witch in hiding. Oblivious to his disguise, Morgana believes him to just be any other boy. A boy she slowly comes to trust. Will he be able to regain her friendship?


_**Chapter 1**_

"Merlin!" A voice hollers from down the corridor, laughing Merlin runs towards him, expecting to be berated.

"Get your wife under control!" Arthur yells, trying not to laugh at Merlin's face as he grimaces.

"I love her, I truly do! But she can be so very stubborn sometimes!" Merlin moans as he heads towards his chambers dramatically.

Merlin sits bolt upright in bed after waking from his dream; was it really a dream? Or was it a vision?

He shakes his head as questions flood his mind, but the most prominent one being who his wife was. He puts it off as an optimistic dream and prepares for the day ahead.

Luckily, Arthur was had decided to go on a riding trip with Gwen for a few days and wasn't set to return until tomorrow so Merlin was free to do as he pleased until then.

Upon exiting his room, he finds Gaius bent over his worktop, frowning in concentration.

"Morning Merlin! There's some breakfast on the table." He looks up briefly to smile at his young charge before returning to his work.

Cautiously, Merlin picks up the bowl of the mysterious substance and takes one small bite before deciding to get some breakfast from the kitchens instead.

"Would you be able to go into the forest and gather some herbs for me today? You might have to go quite far in but seeing as you have nothing to do today…" He trails off, looking expectantly at Merlin who nods his head and picks up his herb gathering bag, deciding to head off early. He grabs the list from Gaius' hand before making his way towards the door.

"Thanks Merlin!" Gaius calls after him as he walks out of the door.

Jogging to the kitchen, Merlin quickly sneaks in to grab a bread roll and some other rations for a midday meal before heading out to the courtyard. Seeing as the forest isn't too far off, Merlin doesn't bother saddling a horse and decides to walk there instead, slowly munching on his breakfast as he goes.

Once in the forest, he soon discovers that the herbs he needs aren't on the outskirts, so like Gaius suggested earlier, he makes his way deeper into the forest; making sure to stick to the trails he knows so he doesn't get lost.

After several hours, he has all the herbs he needs tucked safely into his bag and as he realizes it is still quite early, he opts to practicing some magic while he has the chance. He practices several smaller spells, relishing in the freedom of not having to look over his shoulder.

Sitting on the rock, he comes up with a spell that he hasn't yet had a chance to practice in Camelot, as it would be too obvious, the appearance shifting spell.

Muttering the spell under his breath, he feels the magic flow through him as he changes. Feeling delightful after being successful with the spell, he practices it a few more times, changing his appearance several more times.

After finally settling for an appearance that makes him look the same age, he starts his walk back to Camelot without changing his appearance back, wanting to see how much of a strain it requires to keep the spell up for a longer period of time.

As he walks back, he hums a little tune to himself, not quite paying attention to where he is going; all of a sudden Merlin bumps into somebody and the two of them fall to the ground.

At first, he feels shocked as he didn't expect anyone else to be in the forest but he soon recovers as the other person starts to stand up.

They are dressed in a long black robe, slightly torn and wrinkled with the hood pulled up over their heads.

"You should look where you're going!" A familiar woman's voice grumbles at him.

As he stands up to face them, he feels the blood rush to his face in embarrassment.

"I'm so sorry miss! Please forgive me! My name is Will." He doesn't know what compels him to give a different name but as the woman pulls back her hood, he is glad that he did.

Staring at him is a face that he never thought he would see any time soon.

"Forget it. My name is Morgana."


End file.
